August 16th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 2 missions.
- Mission 556: 1,090 bombers and 692 fighters, in 4 forces, are dispatched to make
visual attacks on oil refineries and aircraft plants in central Germany; 23 bombers and 3
fighters are lost (number in parenthesis indicate number of bombers attacking).
(1) B-17s hit Delitzsch air depot (102), the aviation industry at Schkeuditz (92) and
Halle (60) and the oil industry at Bohlen (88); other targets are Naumburg (15),
Halberstadt Airfield (13) and targets of opportunity (9); they claim 6-4-6 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 10 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 246 P-47s and P-51 Mustang; they claim
15-1-6 Luftwaffe.
(2) B-17s are dispatched to hit the oil industry at Rositz (105) and
Zeitz (101); 3 others hit targets of opportunity; 6 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by
166 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 5-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-47s are lost.
(3) B-24s are dispatched to Halberstadt Airfield (51); 10 others hit Quedlinburg Airfield
and 1 hits a targets of opportunity; escort is provided by 42 of 46 P-38 Lightnings.
(4) B-24s are dispatched to hit the aviation industry at Dessau (99), Kothen (71) and
Magdeburg/Neustadt (67) and the oil industry at Magdeburg/Rothensee; 2 others hit targets
of opportunity; 7 B-24s are lost; escort is provided by 156 P-47s and P-51s; they claim
12-0-0 aircraft; 1P-51 is lost.
- Mission 557: 8 of 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
Minesweeper HMS Squirrel commissioned.
FRANCE: Canadian troops
from II Corps enter Falaise. Polish units of the British I Corps advance west over the
River Dives. The US XX Corps liberates Chartres, France.
The French II Corps lands and passes forward through the US lines in the South of France.
The US Ninth Air Force dispatches about 130 B-26s and A-20 Havocs, with
fighter escort, to hit a Foret de Roumare ammunition dump and rail bridges at
Pont-Audemer, Thibouville, Brionne, Nassandres, and Le Bourg; fighters give air cover to
an armored division and infantry forces, and fly patrol and armed reconnaissance over
northern and western France.
Normandy: Lt. Tasker Watkins (b.1918), Welch regt., led a successful charge against superior numbers and later silenced a machine-gun post, saving his men. (Victoria Cross)
Savoy: The Resistance launched a general rebellion to coincide with the Allied landings in the south.
Adolf Hitler orders the withdrawal of all German forces in
southern France.
The German Me-163 rocket-powered fighter sees action for the
first time against a formation of B-17s.
GERMANY: U-2518 laid down.
EASTERN FRONT: POLAND: The Russian attacks reach Ossow, 7 miles NE of Warsaw where they are pushed back by a German counterattack.
Moscow: The Soviet government describes the Warsaw rising as a "reckless, appalling adventure."
ITALY: The US Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bombs targets in Germany and France.
- In Germany, 89 B-24s, with fighter escort, bomb a chemical works at Friedrichshafen.
- In France, 108 B-17s, supporting Operation DRAGOON, attack railroad bridges at Saint-Vallier,
Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny, Grenoble, and Isere-Valence.
In support of the landings in Southern France (Operation DRAGOON):
- US Twelfth Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers continue to blast enemy defenses and communications on the beaches and in the invasion area of southern France; A-20s hit lights and vehicles during the night of 15/16 August from north of the beachhead to the Rhone River and during the day raid ammunition stores; medium bombers pound Rhone River bridges and gun positions throughout the general area.
- 42 US Fifteenth Air Force P-51s escort MATAF C-47 Skytrains on a supply dropping mission to the beachheads.
INDIA: The last IJA
troops retreat to Burma.
BONIN ISLANDS:
US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island hit
Chichi Jima Island and Pagan Island while Marshall Island-based B-24s
bomb Truk Atoll.
CANADA: Frigate
HMCS Thetford Mines arrived Halifax from
workups in Bermuda.
Corvette HMCS Whitby arrived Halifax
from refit Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Mack commissioned.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-525 was commissioned with LTJG George C. Steinemann, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific, and Western Pacific areas, including Milne Bay, Hollandia, etc.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-263 was commissioned at New York LTJG W. G. Hill, USCGR, was her first commanding officer. On 6 September 1944, she departed New York for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war. On 1 August 1945, the FS-263 anchored in Serida Lagoon, Biak, New Guinea, without cargo awaiting orders to proceed to the Philippine area, and departed on the 2nd for Finschhafen, New Guinea. Arriving on the 6th, after an uneventful voyage, she loaded mail and commissary supplies for Oro Bay, New Guinea and Milne Bay, New Guinea. On the 7th she entered drydock at Finschhafen, where she remained until the 9th having her bottom scraped and repainted. On the 11th she departed Finschhafen to search for a man lost overboard on the 10th, but returned to port when the man was located on Scarlet Beach having swum ashore during the night. On the 15th she departed Finschhafen for Oro Bay, New Guinea, and moored there on the 16th. Here the #3 cylinder liner of her starboard engine was found to be cracked and it was deemed inadvisable to proceed to sea with only one engine. She was, therefore, docked at Oro Bay for the remainder of August 1945 with cargo for Oro Bay discharged but cargo for Milne Bay still on board. While the engine was being repaired, the crew was engaged in routine cleaning and upkeep work aboard the vessel. On 12 October 1945, Coast Guard crew was removed from the FS-263 and she was decommissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-862 sinks SS Empire Lancer.